Buddies was a strange shop. They made a bit of a stir at about this time, trading heavily on the idea that they’d been around a long time (picture of Benjy team riders on the wall to prove it), but most of the London skate establishment were very dubious. I think Sketchy had a poke at them over it. At this time it was hard to come to terms with the idea that there might be other pockets of skaters who were not part to the ESA, South Bank, Crystal Palace bubble. That cosy world was about to explode.
Motorcyle City was part of yet another world. In a cruel irony their advert appeared opposite one from M-Zone…
4 responses to “Buddies of Ealing and Motorcycle City Adverts”
Loved Buddies as a kid. The pitshanger shop from the ad above was their second shop location their first and third were both in northfields which had stacks of skaters
Buddies was the place to be for west londoners. It was a hangout, a place to meet up to go skating and more importantly play the random arcade machine then rip off the sweetshop next door and get some chips. West london a skate scene of its own at the time – loads of quad skaters and skaterboarders mixing. I went to pitzhanger then northfields and loved every moment hanging out in the store. the owner, Steve was a great guy – someone to chat with, have a laugh and it felt like one big family.
I remember the ramps in northfields and elthorne too – 8 and 10ft – this was amazing at the time and somewhere to drink whitelightening/strongbow (okay, I was 15) but had the most amazing time, skating, friends and buddies was my hangout.
Shame the BMXers burnt the elthorne ramp down – that was a bummer.
Nothing dubious about this place – Steve is still in the skate biz now – a true, lifelong skater
Oh, I used to skate with JayKay there too… and Mike Manzoori – a true West London hero. Oh – not to mention Tony Hawk visited the shop too when he was in london – around 1988 ish – I had a photo of this somewhere in the archives – this OG skate shop was not sketchy whatsoever – you weren’t part of the west london skate scene
Gunnersbury kids used to descend enmasse after school to the Northfield’s shop. RoboCop on the arcade there. Good times.
I still remember the first time I went to buddies in pits Hanger Lane ,all those beautiful decks hanging on the wall , great atmosphere nice people. Definitely changed me that day. Still love the whole skate scene 33 years on. Thanks to the guys who ran the store .